ISTANBUL, Turkey – A
Turkish producer has been arrested as a coup conspirator after the
release of a film trailer that shows the moments before the apparent
execution of the president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Ali Avci was arrested at his house hours after the release of the trailer for Uyanis -
"Awakening" - and was charged with being a supporter of the US-based
Turkish preacher Fettulah Gulen, whom authorities hold responsible for
orchestrating last July's failed coup.

According to Avci, the film is based on the night of the coup and
contains scenes where Erdogan's family members are killed by putchists
and one where a general holds a gun to Erdogan's head as he prays.

Erdogan's fate in the film was unclear from the trailer. The film was in the post-production stage, according to Avci.

The president's supporters were enraged by the scenes where his family is killed and he himself is threatened with death.

The pro-government news site Superhaber ran the story on the trailer on Wednesday with the headline "Stop this disgrace".

Translation: The director of Uyanis has been arrested for being a FETO member.

He should actually have been detained when the film Reis only got a rating of 1.6 out of 10 on IMDB.

Avci is also the producer of Reis, a biopic detailing Erdogan's childhood in an Istanbul working-class area and his rise to power.

The film, released in March, was a major flop.

Erdogan did not attend any screenings of the film, which was released at more than 300 screens in Turkey alone.

Police also said Avci was harbouring another wanted Gulenist in his
Istanbul house when they went to arrest him, according to the Turkish
newspaper Hurriyet.

Fetullah Karabiber, an academic at Istanbul's Yildiz Technical
University, was being sought by police and is believed to be a user of
ByLock, an encrypted messaging system that, according to officials,
Gulenists used to communicate with each other.

The government has organised a wide range of events to mark the anniversary of the defeat of the coup attempt.

Public building and spaces in Istanbul have been adorned with giant
posters and signs inviting the public to these commemorative events.

One set of such posters, however, has come in for criticism for
depicting Turkish soldiers crying and with their heads bowed in defeat.

Critics said the demeaning of Turkish soldiers is unacceptable and sends
the wrong message that the entire armed forces were behind the coup
attempt.

Meanwhile, chaotic scenes were reported during the court session where
the case of those involved in trying to assassinate Erdogan while on
holiday in Marmaris on the night of the coup was being heard after one
of the suspects arrived in a t-shirt with the word Hero in English
printed across the front.

Gokhan Guclu, one of those implicated in the case, refused to change his t-shirt. He was sent back to prison.